Orchid loss devastating....
 

I just wanted to share my devastation with people that will understand my loss. Yesterday, was my husband's holiday work party, so my parents watched our kids. I grow in my solarium that is located off of our kitchen. We have dogs and to let them outside, we have to go through the solarium, the door to our yard is located off of the solarium. My dad let the dogs out last night and the pilot must of went out on the heater (the door that connects our kitchen to our solarium normally stays shut at night, in the winter). We had no idea the pilot was out, since we didn't go into the solarium because we got home pretty late.

This morning when I went to let the dogs out, it was frigid. I looked at my thermometers and they all read 20°F. We quickly brought the most valuable and hard to replace plants in while we raised the temperature in the solarium.

At this point, I am waiting to see how many plants I have lost. I can already see some cold damage on some. As many of my previous post state, warm going vandas are my vice, so I fear that my collection is going to seriously shrink as I wait for the damage to show. I have many plants that took me a good amount of time to find, so if the amount of plants lost is substantial this may be the end of the hobby for me.

This will be the second time I lost a collection. The first was when I moved back to Michigan from North Carolina and nearly lost all of my plants to a bacterial infection. I just can't justify starting a collection over for a third time with all the time and money that goes into having a collection. I am expecting a third child, so I know that I won't have the time or funds to replace the 100+ plants in my solarium.

I appreciate the opportunity to vent to other "orchid people". Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Paul, thank you so much for the advice and encouragement. I will look into the alarm as you suggested. I did not know that such a thing existed, thank you again!

So sorry! A friend from Maine lost plants due to a furnace failing a few years ago, midwinter. She lost some, but some survived too.

Thank you so much for your kindness and encouragement! I have my fingers crossed that my older, hard to find plants pull through.

Good luck and I'm so sorry that happened. I hope your hard to find Vandas are OK! Let us know how they turn out.

oh, Nikki--I'm so sorry. that's crushing. I hope the damage turns out to be minimal. I'll be thinking of you and waiting too, to hear how it turns out.

So sorry to hear about your misfortune, I will keep positive thoughts for you in that your collection will not be as severely affected.

Fingers crossed!

Hey Nik, well firstly let me congratulate you on number 3! That's awesome news. When are you due? Boy/girl or keeping it a surprise?

As for your orchids, they can be more resilient than people give them credit for. Fingers crossed! !!

so sorry to hear.

sending some warmth from Jamaica

Orchid loss devastating....
 

Ouch! I feel devastated when one of my plants die, can't imagine an entire collection. Nikkik, I think you have a couple Neofinetia? Those are hardy, and might survive. I have an extra Amami Island that I would be happy to send your way as consolation.

I am so sorry to hear what has happened. If it was just for a few hours, the plants might be fine. Some may have no damage at all and some might just have a little. The important thing was that there was no cold wind/breeze and it does take time for a room to cool down. Good luck! I hope you get luckier than you think!

Dang - that's awful. I hope many surprise you by pulling through!

I can't believe that you will lose them all. Lots will make it, just wait and see.

From a Kelly Clarkson song...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Nature has her ways of coping with unusual circumstances and bet you'll be surprised with the comebacks!

So sorry to hear this. My thought was as Leafmite said, if it was just a few hours and no harsh winds blowing then some may survive better than you expect. The temps would have slowly been dropping so I hope its not as bad as you fear.

Thank you, I will definitely update. A few of my older vandas have already shown leaf damage. I will know in a few days how severe it is.

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Thank you so much, Beth!

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Thank you, I appreciate your positive thoughts!

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Many thanks!!!

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Thank you so much, James! I am due June 28th. We find out the gender on January 27th.

My fear is for my warmest growing plants, which of course were some of my favorites. My fingers are crossed too!

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Thank you!

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Matt, thank you so much for the generous offer, it is more than kind. My neos are actually not kept with the rest of my orchids, I keep them on my windowsills because of their beautiful foliage, so I guess I was wrong when I said my entire collection. I also have some vanda seedlings and miniatures that I keep inside my home.

Again, thank you for your kindness! The fact that you would offer a plant to me is consolation enough.

Sorry about the accident.
I would be very upset.

Give some time and see what survive.
You might find joy in seeing them coming back to life and thrive again for you.

Also, you don't have to replace the whole thing overnight.
Buy one here and one there. Plus since you're having a child again, have less plants might work better for now and slowly work up. ;)

I wish you a healthy baby! :)

Thank you, Leafmite! I'm crossing my fingers that the damage is minimal. Unfortunately, my solarium has no insulation, so as soon as the heater goes out the temperatures drop pretty quickly. We estimate that there was no heat for about 10 hours. My dogs refuse to go out past a certain time in the winter because of the temps, so I calculated from the last time they went out (according to my dad) to when I let them out this morning; I know spoiled pups!

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Thank you, Sonya!

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Thank you for the positive words! I will definitely update once I know the damage.

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Your post made me smile, thank you for that and your encouraging words!

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Thank you, Silken! I hope that you and Leafmite are both correct! Unfortunately, temps drop as soon as the heater goes off in my solarium, there's no harsh wind, but I do have fans going for circulation.

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Thank you for all of your kind words and logical advice, it means a lot!

Also, thank you for wishing us a healthy baby! My husband and I used to talk about what gender we wished for with our first two (two daughters), this time around everyone assumes we want a boy, but we both have said we just hope for healthy, since we can see the benefits of either having a son or daughter.

Good approach to life! ;)
All the best! :)

I am going to bet on your plants! I think MOST will be fine, keeping my fingers crossed tho....Jean

Oh- I can send one too. I have an extra Vanda denisoniana I can give to you if you like that one to make up for any Vanda loss! :) Let me know and I could send it to you when the weather warms here!

Thank you for your positive thoughts, Jean!

Here's the update this morning: Some of my plants did not make it. So far, 8 are definite goners. I have several vandas that have a lot of leaf damage/loss, but I am holding out hope for them. My Phalaenopsis gigantea has a significant amount of cold damage on the main plant, but the good news is that it has several keikis that look good, so far (fingers crossed). All my sophronitis died. My constantia orchids have damage, but again, fingers crossed. I did lose two color forms of Vanda tessellata.

It seems that the plants on the south side of the room faired much better, as those plants don't seem to have much damage. My three Vandopsis, which I was really worried about seem ok, so far. My adult V. gigantea has some cold spotting, but I don't see anything major.

I will update again, soon.

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Thank you so much!!! That is very thoughtful! I can't begin to express how much I appreciate your kindness! I believe my denisoniana is going to pull through. It's keiki didn't fair well, but so far the rest of the plant looks good.

Good luck!
 

So sorry to hear of your problems! I'd think insulating the solarium would be a good idea, along with the alarm.

I moved my small collection of orchid "mutts" from So. Calif. to South Dakota ten years ago. We arrived very late and only unpacked what we'd need for breakfast. I was quite ill just then, and simply forgot that the orchids were all in the car!! It got down nearly to zero that night, and in the morning I was devastated to find my plants out there.

Don't even remember what all I had then, actually didn't know the names of most of them anyway... but only completely lost two of the smallest ones. Had quite a bit of leaf damage to the others, and it took them a long time to recover, but they are healthy and mostly blooming now.

Be patient, and careful about just tossing things that seem too damaged... these pesky, persnickity, spoiled brat plants turn out to be incredibly persistent when all is said and done. :)

Thank you for your kind words. I am sorry to hear that you lost a few but happy that most of your collection pulled through. The plants that I have tossed are definitely dead. And we are in the process of looking for an alarm.

As for the insulation, there is nothing to insulate because the entire room with the exception of the side the attaches to the house is made out of glass, even the ceiling. I wish we could insulate it; it would save us a ton on heating costs!!!!!:biggrin:

Oh, that's too bad! And I hear you on the heating costs. I could tolerate a lower temperature in the whole house if it were not for all the plants. I have 45 houseplants - from ferns to citrus dwarfs - besides the orchids, and I swear they are all that stands between me and insanity over the long winter. Well, the plants and my corgi, of course. He drives me nuts during mud season. :rofl:

So, I pay the bills and don't worry about it. I'm sure the electric is cheaper than psychiatric care! :biggrin:

[Edit... can't spell today either. :) ]

Oh, I am so sorry about your collection. I will pray that most of them will survive. Unfortunate some are already gone. Don't give up so soon :evil: don't get mad get even, I mean get even better ones :waving

Congratulations on the new baby. I grew up with 3 sisters, no brothers. It can be done :shock:

MamaLiberty the mud season is bad with the low slung dogs. I also know this as I have a basset and she's my 4th one. My longer legged dogs are much better as they don't throw it so much on to there bellies. But we love them anyway :biggrin: At least mine have shorter hair, the Corgi must be even worse.

Lol I like that!

Thank you so much for your kind words, Shannon! I also appreciate that you made me laugh out loud when you said I should get even better ones!

Thank you for the congratulations on our baby! I would be happy with 3 girls or two girls and a boy, but even if I wasn't I'd have to learn to be because there are not returns in that department of life! :biggrin:

Never give up. some will survive and you can add one at a time. Install an alarm, back up heater, whatever to prevent it from happening again. Chin up and celebrate the survivers !

Thank you for your words of encouragement!

Now THAT surprises me. Many of the Sophs are cool to intermediate growers ... not unlike many of the more spectacular masdies. (In their native habitats, many experience temps below 32F.) I would have expected at least some of them to have survived this ordeal.

Hmm, perhaps double or triple paned glass?

I'm sorry for your misfortune, but congrats on your growing Family! I guess life is bittersweet at times...Please don't give up, it's a wonderful hobby (on the bright side: you'll have some space freed up for new acquisitions ;)).

For the cost of windows, I would rather build a greenhouse that better suited my growing needs.

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Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and for the congrats!

Your Vandas will survive....since warm air tends to rise up= the hanging ones get the best heat. The walls also retain thermal heat especially brick to radiate towards the plants.
20 degrees is scary for any plant they turn to sludge overnight outdoors and since it was in an enclosed environment the damage might be minimal.
Spray the damaged leaves to avoid bacterial or fungi infestation.
I am happy to hear you have a new baby coming!

Thank you for your kind, logical words about my orchids and your expression of happiness over the baby, Bud! I didn't think about the fact that most of my vandas hang higher and heat rises! I will definitely spray the damaged leaves.

Here's the update. Thankfully most of you were right and most of my plants look like they are going to pull through. I've lost a total of 10 plants and 5 are questionable. The plants that I was most nervous about appear to be fine. Depending on their position in the solarium some of my plants are now a little more leafless/damaged than I prefer but I am sure with a lot of time they will be back to their former glory.

We are going to be installing alarm to prevent this from happening in the future. This was definitely a learning experience for us.

I also want to thank all of you for your encouraging words and rational thoughts at a time when I was very upset. Reading your responses really helped to make a bad situation much better. Thank you all!!!!

Wonderful news!, would love to see/read about the system you set up - for future reference.. Thanks in advance